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The Magic Beads by Susin Nielsen-Fernlund

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The Magic Beads by Susin Nielsen-Fernlund

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Plot: In this book, Lilian has just started her first day of second grade in  a new school, and everyday they have Show and Tell. Lilian is told her day will be Friday.  Each say someone brings in something interesting and amazing, and each day her nerves grow from butterflies to rabbits to buffalos in her stomach. Lilian and her mother had to leave their home behind, along with all of her toys because her father hurt her and her mother. Lilian misses home, and her father sometimes, but she knows it's better to be away. Her mom has to save up so she can't get her anything new for Show and Tell, so on the day of, Lilian shows the class her "magic" beads which can do all kinds of amazing things like be a tightrope for her circus or save her from monsters. She was so nervous but everyone thought they were so cool and they all wanted some, so her beads weren't so bad after all.
Transformative: As discussed in

"Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children’s Books", invisibility in children's books undermines a child's sense of self, so it's important to have books that show groups that are often seen as invisible. Homelessness and single parents are shown in this book and discuss ideas of abuse. There will be students who go through things like this and we may not always be aware of it, this book will give them the sense that they are not alone, creating a mirror, and there will be other students who will now be aware that children go through these things and it's not something to be ashamed of, creating a window. This story brings awareness to these topics and creates a discussion not normally held about difficult family and home situations.

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Plot: This is the story of young Rosie, who loves to create inventions from anything and everything. When she was even younger she wasn't as shy and proudly showed her creations until the day her uncle laughed at the invention, despite saying he loved it. Ever since then she has hid her creations under her bed. Her great-great-aunt Rose comes to visit and has dreams of flying so an idea comes to Rosie. She builds a contraption, but it falls to the ground and her aunt laughs. Rosie decides that she will never try to build anything again and she will never be a great engineer. But her aunt's laugh is not mean, she tells Rosie that it was the perfect first try because before it crashed, it flew, so it was time to try again.
Transformative: This book takes the stereotype that women and girls who are strong and independent are "manly" and creates a story that shows Rosie as a real human being with struggles and failures. Not only is she perusing something long thought of as a man's profession, she is a little girl with the fear of not being good enough. This story enables students to start seeing that it doesn't matter whether you are male or female, if you believe in something, try your best and never give up you can do anything you want, even if somethings society has believed isn't for you.

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Plot: Callie's family is having a yard sale in order to get rid of much of their stuff. They are moving into a new, smaller apartment and can't take everything with. People are buying all of their things, like her bike which she is sad to loose, and Callie talks to her friend Sara about why they have to move. She tells her it has something to do with money. As the sale dwindles down, a lady jokingly asks if Callie is for sale and it scares her so she runs to her parents and ask if she is. They tell her they wouldn't sell her for anything in the world. This helps Callie realize that even though much of their stuff is gone, it's okay because it would't fit, but her and her parents will and that's all they really need.
Transformative: This story brings to light the struggles families face, that children do not allows understand. It is important to show people with different socioeconomic statuses because sometimes you don't know what students may be going through and this could be a similar challenge they are facing. Lower economic statuses are not often shown in literature and this denies students the opportunity to learn about different economic life styles and how it isn't strange or bad in anyway; it's more common than they may realize. This book allows students to see how this type of struggle effects others, but also how to look at what's really important in their lives.

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Last Stop on Market Street by Matt De La Pena

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Last Stop on Market Street by Matt De La Pena

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Plot: CJ and his Nana are just leaving church and are heading towards the bus. As they wait in the ran, CJ questions why they don't have a car, but she responds with her own question about why they would need a car when they have the bus. CJ takes note of the passengers on the bus and wonders why he has to go somewhere after church unlike his friends, so he stays quiet and feels sorry for himself. A blind man enters the bus and CJ is told by his Nana to give him his seat, and CJ questions why the man can't see. Nana asks CJ what he knows about seeing because some people see the world with their ears. The man with the guitar starts playing and the blind man says it feels like magic so CJ closes his eyes and gets lost in the music as well, seeing all different kinds of beautiful things. Everyone applauds and they get to their last stop. They get off at a dirty, crumbling place and CJ questions why it's always like that, but Nana says helps to see the beautiful things. Where they end up is a soup kitchen, helping. When he sees the familiar faces CJ realizes that he is glad they came.
Transformative: This story helps break a stereotype surrounding people with disabilities. As seen with the blind man, he was not portrayed as someone to be pitied, a harmful stereotype shown in "Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children's Books". Instead, the blind man opened CJ up to seeing the world as beautiful when he just closed his eyes and listened to the music. This book also portrays people in poverty, and while it wasn't the main character himself is allows children reading this book to see a window into poverty. This window can teach children a better perspective into people who are different, whether it's the ability/disability or socioeconomic status of someone, and they are not people to be pitied or looked down upon. It also gives them a way to help others, even in the smallest of ways.

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Plot: This story follows two friends, Maddi and Sofia. They are playing at the park when Sofia asks to race Maddi home to Maddi's apartment for a snack. When Sofia gets there, she see that the only thing in Maddi's fridge is milk. Maddi says they don't have enough money to go to the store for food. Sofia promises not to tell any one and head's home where she looks at her full fridge. Sofia comes up with the idea to bring Maddi some of her fish from dinner, but discovers, the next day, that fish shouldn't be put in backpacks, and she tries this again with eggs and burritos (the burritos are okay!). While this is happening, Sofia keeps trying to climb the climbing wall after school, but she still can't do it and Maddi tries to encourage her. The same day as she brings the burrito, Sofia makes it to the top of the wall with Maddi's help. Sofia finally breaks her promise and tells her mom because she knows she can't help Maddi alone, and together they bring groceries over to Maddi. Sofia tells Maddi that she is more important than keeping a promise, she deserves to have food too.
Transformative: This text discusses the issues of poverty that are faced by families. It shows two very different socioeconomic positions and how a child from one, makes the decision to try and help her friend. It's important that the text doesn't portray Maddi as weaker because of her economic status, rather she is the better climber and has to be there to help her friend too, in a different way. This helps stay away from harmful stereotypes that poorer people constantly need help or are weak. This story not only shows a struggle not always seen by students, but it also shows how it can be handled if they are ever in a situation like it. Poverty is a topic that children's books do not always portray and this shows something that is more prevalent than people might know, creating an important mirror for children struggling in this way and never see their situations portrayed.

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A Family Is a Family Is a Family by Sara O'Leary

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A Family Is a Family Is a Family by Sara O'Leary

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Plot: This is a story about how not all families are the same. Students are sharing out about their families. One has parents who have know each other forever, one has a family that keeps bringing in more children, one has two moms, one has a lot of grandparents, one has a new sibling, and one is with mom one week and dad the next week. Another lives with her grandmother, one has siblings from her mom and siblings from her dad, another has two dads and ends with the last student who lives with a foster mom.
Transformative: A important things to do when reading this book is to really look at the illustrations. Some things said don't show the entirely of what makes the family unique, such as having a family with mixed races or the child who has a mother in a wheelchair even though it was not explicitly said. This book shows the range of family dynamics that exist and ,especially today, this is important so that students can see that there is not just one traditional family, family can be something different to everyone. It helps make "invisible" family dynamics visible like two moms or dads, foster families, divorced families or parents with disabilities. Children come from all different types of families and they need to see those families represented, and students need to see families that are different from their as well.

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Plot: A child speaks of where they used to live, but how the war has come now and took their father from them. Her mother is told that many people are leaving to another country, somewhere safer, and their mother makes the decision to go there. They pack their things and leave at night as to not be seen. They travel for days, sometimes in the back of trucks and on bikes, leaving more and more behind as time goes on. They arrive at the border and are met with a wall, and are told they can not cross over and must go back. They stay in the forest but the guards come looking for them and they need to hide. They meet a man and the mother gives him money and he takes them over the wall, unseen. They must now cross the sea, in a ferry with many people. They make it to land and the mother says they are close to the place where they will be safe and continue traveling. The child hopes they will one day find a safe place where they can start their stories again.
Transformative: This book deals with a very serious topic that is becoming more prevalent today. The political struggle of immigration and the concept of illegal immigration and refugees is something very rarely seen in books, but it's something that can be seen in our classrooms. We may have students who have come from another country because of difficult situations such as war and their stories are difficult to hear. This creates a visible story that those students are not alone and it teaches students of the struggles that are becoming more common and hows it effects people. If books like this are not written or shown to children, they will not be learning about concepts that, while they may be scary, are important for understanding social and political issues occurring in other countries. This gives students an understanding and knowledge so that they can go out into the world and be aware of what is happening and that it's not something to be afraid of.

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Plot: Mae is a dreaming who is working on an assignment on what she wants to be she she is older. She wants to see earth from "out there" so her mom tells her she'll need to be an astronaut. She goes to the library to read about space and astronauts, draws pictures of space and makes her own astronaut costume. She is told again and again if she dreams it, believes and works hard for it, anything is possible and she can be an astronaut one day. She tells everyone about the dream she has about herself floating high up in space. Everyone in her class laughs when she shares she wants to be a astronaut and her teacher suggests being a nurse, but Mae says she doesn't want to. It makes Mae disappointed and he mom says she hopes Mae didn't believe her teacher, she just has to follow her dream. Mae kept dreaming it, believing it, and working hard for it and she ended up going to space, waving to her mom and dad from the spaceship.
Transformative: In this book there is not only a woman dreaming about being in a role that is usually reserved for men, she is also a woman of color. Based on a true story about Mae Jemison who became the first African American woman in space, this story creates a message that anything is possible, no matter who you are. It allows students to see that they're not confined to the roles society has created and the social constructs that have been emphasized. People of color are not always shown as successful and powerful people and this breaks that constructed opinion. Also with views of the women, the other girls on her class wanted to be a teacher or stay at home mom, and the teacher suggested being a nurse - all of these positions are the basic "woman's job". They require a caretaker which is usually seen as something that a woman is made for, but Mae didn't want to be put into that box; she was breaking the mold.

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Plot: This story follows a young girl on the first day of school, where she doesn't feel like there's anyone like her. The story continues to follow other students who have differences too. Rigoberto has just come Venezuela and the kids laugh at his accent. The teacher asks about everyone's summer breaks and what they did and they talk about all the cool places they visited. However, the girl is reluctant to share because she didn't go anywhere exciting. She watched her sister who made her laugh and traveled through books. Another student eats food that no one really knows, while another student never gets asked to play, but loses himself in books. The girl finally decides to share what she did over the summer and the other students don't care that she didn't go anywhere crazy because she still had fun. At the end Rigoberto finds similarities between himself and the girl, and realize that while they may be different, there is always something that brings people together.
Transformative: This text incorporates the message that we are all unique, but that is important that we are. Are differences make us who we are, but we can always find people who share something similar to us, and that helps bring people together. It shows people of various cultural backgrounds, those with different abilities, and those with different socioeconomic backgrounds to create an inclusive story that can create various windows for many children. They can see someone who eats different food like them, someone who stays home because they don't have money to travel or someone who doesn't always get to play with everyone. These are important for children to see so that they know they are not alone and that there are people who go through the same things and fee; the same way. Students can also see that people go through things that are different from them, and this can help them begin to understand that and realize that in their own lives and interactions.

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Plot: A young girl, Mia, is shy meeting her grandmother who is coming to live with them from far way. Her grandmother stays in her room and shows her a picture of her grandfather and a feather from a parrot that lived in her mango tree. Mia doesn't know enough Spanish to tell her abuela what she wants her to know, and her abuela doesn't know enough English to tell her stories from her home. Her mom says it will get better just as it did with her best friend Kim who didn't know English before. So they start saying words, in English and Spanish to help each other, and everything in the house is taped with the English words to help abuela learn. At the pet store, Mia sees a parrot and begs her mom to get it for her abuela, like the one that used to live by her. Together with Mango the parrot, abuela learns English and starts to learn ways converse in more difficult ways and Mango learns tricks. The story ends with abuela and Mia being able to say all of the things they want to say to each other and they can now understand each other.
Transformative: An important part about this text is that is values another language, and it shows that by incorporating Spanish into the text. This especially important for Spanish-speaking ELLS in the classroom who don't get as much interaction with their first language. This creates a mirror for them, or even students who just have a Hispanic background and may have had to deal with language barriers between family who lived somewhere else. The window of this creates a view on what it would be like to have this barrier between a family member, and how it would take a lot to overcome it. The story also has the important idea that language is not unimportant, if anything it is especially important because without it we loose connections to people we want to be close to.